A champion of contemporary music, Lisa Cella has performed throughout the United States and abroad. She is Artistic Director of San Diego New Music and a founding member of its resident ensemble NOISE. With NOISE she has performed the works of young composers all around the world. Lisa is co-artistic director of NOISE’s annual festival of modern music entitled soundON. Lisa co-founded the flute collective inHALE, a group dedicated to developing challenging and experimental repertoire for two and three flutes. inHALE was an invited ensemble at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego in August of 2005. She, along with Franklin Cox, is a founding member of C2, a touring flute and cello duo. As a soloist, she has performed both nationally and internationally and is a faculty member of the Soundscape Festival of Contemporary Music in Maccagno, Italy and Nief Norf based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her undergraduate work was completed at Syracuse University and she received a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Conservatory. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in contemporary flute performance at the University of California, San Diego. Her main teachers include John Oberbrunner, Robert Willoughby, and John Fonville. She is a professor of music at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a founding member of its faculty contemporary music ensemble, Ruckus.
Contact
Department Chair
Professor
Director of Certificate Programs
Flute
Office: 410-455-1405
Room: PAHB 264
cella@umbc.edu
The Low Flutes Project
Exploration, devotion, and creation are at the core of my performance philosophy. My path as a flutist has been one of continuous exploration, seeking works that challenge and stretch my abilities and presenting these works to the public with the utmost care and devotion. I embrace the process of creation; I find it satisfying and exhilarating to bring a new work into existence. I would like to turn my attention to two instruments in particular: the alto and bass flutes I am drawn not only to the beauty of the instruments embodied in their core tone, but their seemingly endless capacity to create sound worlds that extend their technical and expressive capabilities. The Low Flutes Project seeks to find and create new works that shatter boundaries in sound and technique. Through commissioning, performing, and recording, I will add my voice to the body of repertoire, helping to inspire the new generation of composers to explore deeply these two instruments that have captured my passion.
Project Updates
Composers commissioned:
George Lewis
Elanie Lillios
Nicholas Tzortzis
Linda Dusman
Works premiered:
15 Minutes of Fame winners
Transparent Wave IX by Tom DeLio
Peace, movement 1 for bass flute, by Stuart Saunders Smith
The Low Flutes Project is made possible by a generous grant from UMBC.
The Low Flutes Project
was supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, Anonymous.
Teaching
Flute
Musicianship
Career Development for the Musician
New Music Ensemble
Research Interests
Contemporary Flute Repertoire
Education
B. A. Syracuse University (1988)
M. Mus. Peabody Conservatory (1991)
Graduate Performance Diploma – Peabody Conservatory (1993)
D.M.A. University of California, San Diego (2000)